島越駅

My old man spent Wednesday in Tanohate, Iwate-ken Japan distributing relief supplies at the evacuation center. He took this photo of what’s left of Shimanokoshi Train Station on the Sanriku North rail line.

Note the broken out windows on this car. This is a DMU (Diesel Multiple Unit — engine and passenger car in a single unit), but I think Sanriku usually runs these in two car consists.

Here’s a photo of the train station before the tsunami. Note the elevated platform hidden behind the station building.

The Sanriku North train line runs right along the rugged Pacific coast and big chunks of rail are just gone. Even on the operating sections, trains are running at much reduced speed since the signals no longer work and the railroad reverts to manning junctions and using waving signal flags by hand.